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America: everyday life vs that YouTube video

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Xzi

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I guess part of it depends where you live.
Very much so. The cops in my area are great...up until the point where you ask them to deal with homeless people walking down the middle of the street in two lanes. Being too lenient is definitely preferable to shooting first and asking questions later, though, and that's known to happen in much of the country. A lot of the bad cops feel empowered with Trump as president, especially after the speech he gave to police. Worse is Jeff Sessions giving them military equipment again, after that experiment failed badly once already. The country as a whole is more a police state now than we were two, three years ago. Two, three years ago cops were already being let off the hook for any crimes they commit as well.
 
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rileysrjay

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Very much so. The cops in my area are great...up until the point where you ask them to deal with homeless people walking down the middle of the street in two lanes. Being too lenient is definitely preferable to shooting first and asking questions later, though, and that's known to happen in much of the country. A lot of the bad cops feel empowered with Trump as president, especially after the speech he gave to police. Worse is Jeff Sessions giving them military equipment again, after that experiment failed badly once already. The country as a whole is more a police state now than we were two, three years ago. Two, three years ago cops were already being let off the hook for any crimes they commit as well.
Most of the bad cops in my area are actually state patrol officers, not city or county. I've heard two or three stories of gsp officers who let power get to there head. Granted most of those in the stories have been fired since but I'm sure there's more out there.
 
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I largely agree with @RustInPeace said. The U.S. is a big country, bigger than many countries combined, and unironically classifying it in terms of black and white is flawed, misleading, and all-around ignorant. This should go for all countries, not just the U.S.

I haven't had much experience with the police here in America, however, most cops I've met seem like decent human beings. The media here tends to distort facts and make mountains out of molehills for ratings. Fox News typically got flak for this, but nowadays, CNN is the more acceptable target. They're both hugely biased and trying to push their own agendas, which is insufferable, considering they are news organizations, and should be supplying people with news.

I understand the argument that cops need to be cautious, lest the person they're investigating be brandishing a knife or a gun. I guess this falls back to the controversial Second Amendment, which argues the right to bear arms. The Founding Fathers kept this in the Constitution in case the government grow corrupt and rebellion necessary. However, I believe at that point,
  1. the government would have banned guns already, and
  2. the rebels likely wouldn't have much regard for the government's laws at that point anyways.
I wouldn't feel myself impacted by gun control laws, in all honesty. No one I know owns a gun, and I don't have guns at my place anyways. Considering this is the direction developed countries seem to be going in, I think it would be for the better, in the long run.
 

Quantumcat

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most cops I've met seem like decent human beings.
I wouldn't feel myself impacted by gun control laws, in all honesty. No one I know owns a gun, and I don't have guns at my place anyways
Maybe the reason police in your area seem to be good people is the very fact that there aren't a lot of guns around where you live?
 
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Viri

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I live in a major city, and never had any issues, or seen anyone have any issues with the cops, might be my area. There are much much shittier areas in the city, but, I stay away from those areas obv. I have only seen the cops pull out a gun on a person once in my life. Once there was a guy fleeing the cops, I forgot why(this was in 2006). The guy banged on our door, I didn't think much of it, it was around 5ish pm, I answer it, he shoves me out of the way, and seconds later, the cops are aiming a gun at him to get on the ground. He got arrested, and that's that.
 

rileysrjay

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I live in a major city, and never had any issues, or seen anyone have any issues with the cops, might be my area. There are much much shittier areas in the city, but, I stay away from those areas obv. I have only seen the cops pull out a gun on a person once in my life. Once there was a guy fleeing the cops, I forgot why(this was in 2006). The guy banged on our door, I didn't think much of it, it was around 5ish pm, I answer it, he shoves me out of the way, and seconds later, the cops are aiming a gun at him to get on the ground. He got arrested, and that's that.
Probably the area your in. In Atlanta areas like Buckhead are really nice and don't have too many issues but other areas around downtown are terrible. I wouldn't go out in those areas at night due to the fear of getting mugged or shot.
 

ThisIsDaAccount

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By now most of us have seen that viral youtube video of the nurse getting arrested.

The comments on the video seem to portray America as some fucked up place where the cops think themselves kings and this is the one occasion where their corruption was exposed. I doubt this is true, YouTube comments are not a very reliable source of information.

But I've never been to America before. What do people who actually live in America have to say about this incident?

Remember to keep the comments civilised.
Can't speak for everyone, since the US is a very diverse place (only slightly smaller than Europe, and European countries can be very different, just like different states) but the people in Florida, where I live, are all good folks that would never do something like that. We've been prepping for a hurricane all week and everyone's been so neighborly that I feel blessed to be around them. And I think it's worth mentioning that my next door neighbor is a cop, and he's the kindest person in the entire neighborhood, very different from the guy who arrested that nurse (just like most cops probably are).

Apart from my neighborhood, Florida has always been a great place to live. I'm sure it's different in other parts of the US, but everyone here seems to respect one another, whether we be white, black, Hispanic, Muslim, or anything else (and just to tackle the issue, even the people who voted for trump respect others, I hate the guy but don't believe that everyone who likes him is horrible). I wasn't born in the US but I still feel like I have a part here, and that's thanks to the wonderful folks around me.

Those cops in the video are terrible, but please don't let them represent all the other 320 million of us. Most of us are good people who love one another and our country.
 

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That was a bad incident, but that is extremely rare. We just see so much of the few bad incidents that happen that everyone think the cops are bad. Officers in America have to deal with some of the worst crap.
  • For example some guy with an axe was approaching random people at Burger King in my town.The cops had to shoot him for everyone's safety. http://www.pe.com/2016/09/17/beaumo...h-hatchet-near-burger-king-police-say-update/
  • Some other guy was driving around town shooting people at random. He killed two people and injured others. Oh yeah, and this was the friend of my mom's son. http://ktla.com/2015/09/26/2-dead-1-injured-in-banning-shootings-1-person-in-custody-official/
  • Someone who I had classes with in high school decided to murder someone (probably for drugs). https://patch.com/california/bannin...transients-arrested-1-sought-details-released
  • They locked down the high school on a weekend because a crazy guy nearby locked himself in his house and was armed. He killed himself.
  • If you drive in the bad side of town, you see a lot of gang members. Some of them have the teardrop tattoo which means they killed someone.
  • There is a huge drug problem, poverty, theft, domestic abuse, etc. in my town.
  • There was a high speed chase near the high school a few days ago.
  • I saw a drug deal outside a small liquor store. One of the parties brought his children with him in strollers.
  • Another friend from high school got arrested for having a lot of explosives in his car. He also had a ton in his house in some underground bunker. He wasn't a bad guy though. He was more of a doomsday prepper type of person. I ironically had chemistry with him in high school.
  • Some ghetto guy was threatening to beat his girl outside of my house. She may have been a prostitute. He didn't even mind that I was standing outside. I called the cops. I currently live in a nicer part of town.
  • There is an illegal "massage" parlor in town (if you know what I mean).
  • There are a ton of homeless people coming to town. I think big cities are sending them to us. These homeless people are definitely on all kinds of drugs. One of them was speaking crazy talk to me one time.
  • Some guy stole a 5 foot tall statue from a local church and tried to sell it at his yard sale.
  • People steal daily from the local outlet stores and no one does anything about it.
This is a small quiet town in beautiful southern California. Imagine what cops in the cities have to deal with.
 
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Lol. Somehow Japan manages to be completely peaceful with nearly no guns and Australia very peaceful with very few guns. In Japan policemen are friends and you go to them for help, and in Australia at least you aren't generally afraid of them because you can trust them to only hurt bad guys. It's only in the US that the general public needs to fear for their life whenever a cop is around. Gun lovers hugging that second amendment is just like extremist Christians hugging particular awful statements in the bible that happen to align with their views. It's leftover from a previous era. Maybe in the 1800s a tyrant government was a risk, and maybe in the year 100 you really should behead someone who lay with someone of the same sex, but those things aren't relevant today. I can't prove that there's a link, but it seems unlikely to be a coincidence that the US has ten times more guns than anyone else and it's the country where police are scary and brutal, not trustworthy guardians like anywhere else. Maybe there's a third factor that is causing both of them.
The US government is a tyranny sorry to say. Look at the controlled substances act, the federal government has control over your body and mind. Let's not forget the many provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the government to imprison someone on the suspicion of terrorism without due process. I could be arrested right now for suggesting a violent overthrow is the only solution to any form of liberty in this godforsaken country.
 
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tatripp

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Honestly I hate the "not all cops" argument, because while, yes, the majority of officers are not brutalizing or assaulting people, the majority ARE letting it slide... and the ones that are speaking out against it get fired, which shows just how corrupt people who wield power tend to get
No they are not. What proof do you have of that? Police brutality is not a widespread issue in America.
 

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No they are not. What proof do you have of that? Police brutality is not a widespread issue in America.
Um, I'm confused. he said police brutality wasn't a widespread problem in that post (please correct me if I'm wrong @TotalInsanity4 ). What part are you asking about? The part where he said police weren't calling each other out?
 
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The US government is a tyranny sorry to say. Look at the controlled substances act, the federal government has control over your body and mind. Let's not forget the many provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the government to imprison someone on the suspicion of terrorism without due process. I could be arrested right now for suggesting a violent overthrow is the only solution to any form of liberty in this godforsaken country.
If that's the case, and the guns are supposed to stop that from happening, haven't they failed?
 
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rileysrjay

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The US government is a tyranny sorry to say. Look at the controlled substances act, the federal government has control over your body and mind. Let's not forget the many provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the government to imprison someone on the suspicion of terrorism without due process. I could be arrested right now for suggesting a violent overthrow is the only solution to any form of liberty in this godforsaken country.
Some older guys at the local waffle House got arrested on terrorist charges recently because they were talking about building a bomb. From what I've heard they were just curious about it, they weren't actually planning to do anything with it.
 
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If that's the case, and the guns are supposed to stop that from happening, haven't they failed?
Maybe no one's felt things are bad enough to say "what gives you the right?" yet. I hope that day comes soon. It would take a rather long campaign to gather enough supporters not to mention acquiring the firearms capable of defending against the US Military.

As for the police, I blame the lack of proper training. Isn't the sidearm supposed to be the last resort? In most encounters with the police, I've noticed they like to put their hand on their gun while talking to you. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be some intimidation tactic, or if they're just hoping for some "action." There are plenty of nonlethal options available to officers that a gun should be the absolute last thought in their head.

And what is it with every cop treating every citizen like they're some sort of criminal no matter the encounter? I remember the greeters at Wal-Mart used to do the same shit until they realized it was bad for business.
 
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rileysrjay

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Maybe no one's felt things are bad enough to say "what gives you the right?" yet. I hope that day comes soon. It would take a rather long campaign to gather enough supporters not to mention acquiring the firearms capable of defending against the US Military.

As for the police, I blame the lack of proper training. Isn't the sidearm supposed to be the last resort? In most encounters with the police, I've noticed they like to put their hand on their gun while talking to you. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be some intimidation tactic, or if they're just hoping for some "action." There are plenty of nonlethal options available to officers that a gun should be the absolute last thought in their head.

And what is it with every cop treating every citizen like they're some sort of criminal no matter the encounter? I remember the greeters at Wal-Mart used to do the same shit until they realized it was bad for business.
The day when the people would be able to stand up against the government is a long ways off. I also think that a "revolution" would end poorly for both sides due to the likelihood of a foreign power taking advantage of a revolution and taking over the u.s. when it's at its weakest.
 

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Um, I'm confused. he said police brutality wasn't a widespread problem in that post (please correct me if I'm wrong @TotalInsanity4 ). What part are you asking about? The part where he said police weren't calling each other out?
Yep. I dun goofed. I meant the part about that cops aren't calling each other out. My bad.
 
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I literally just got out of jail. Most cops aren't bad. Most are just doing their job and want to go home at the end of their shift. This shit gets over-sensationalized by the media in regards to rate of occurrences. Do some cops pull BS? Yeah, mostly due to poor screening and training. Do most cops? Hell no. Most are pretty cool, even if you're on the opposite side of the law.
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